I have 4 Siberian Huskies. I just spun guard hairs and all. Did not wash or comb first. I spun first by just randomly picking up a piece and stretching by hand. (My dog is tri colored.) After spinning and plying I skeined it off and dropped it in a sink of cold water and put a drop of Dawn liquid in and let it soak Did this a couple of times. It came out beautiful with a nice halo after I knit it. I am entering it in the fair this year. I was really pleased with how it turned out.
That’s brilliant! This video accompanies a very extensive blog post about my experience spinning malamute for the first time. Many people that own double coated dogs tell me that they just use the fibres that they comb from the back and sides of the dog without removing the guard hairs. I believe dog owners quickly learn which part of the dog yields the best fibre. Unfortunately I don’t own a dog and the person that gifted me the fibres wasn’t quite so selective. My fibres would have resulted in a very itchy yarn.
@@KathrynCraftmehappy I knit some of my yarn into a scarf using Mr. O"Leary's free scarf pattern which I believe is on Lion Brand site. The scarf is a Christmas present for Max's vet. Also if you are preparing alpaca or angora or similar, please spin and skein before you wash. You will like the results.
I spin dog hair quite frequently. Many breeds for our local kennel club members . I always wash after I have spun and skeined it up. So much easier and no accidental felting. Use cotton hand cards then a drum carder and ready to go. Your yarn turned out so beautiful! Great video.
I have 4 Siberian huskies too! I’ve been saving their sheds for almost 7 years! I just started spinning a couple weeks ago. I lost one of my huskies a few years ago, and I’m excited to hone my skill a little a make a beautiful memorial piece for her.
Thanks, I got some great tips here! I'm trying to just clean and card a handful of my border collie's hair for a keepsake that I frantically pulled out of the shop vac. She passed unexpectedly last week and it's the only thing I have left of Precious. Thank you.
Ha! I can see where you’re coming from. I don’t actually own a dog, I’m a spinner that fancied learning to spin chiengora. Most spinners of dog hair would have rejected it in this state. If you comb your dog at the earlier stages of shedding and only use brushings from the ‘blanket area’ you should get fibres that don’t need as much preparation.
I have Texas Heeler...my boyfriend thinks it's weird af that I save all her hair when i brush her. But I'll make something out of it, one day, when I get really good at spinning, to remember her by when she's gone.
Love his video! Love the idea of the dog combs! Brilliant! Thank You! Using our Mals’ undercoat has always been a dream for me! We definitely have enough Mals….so this is going to be a lot of work but fun!
Thank you! I envy you owning malamutes - this was for a friend and so I didn't get the opportunity to tell her how to prepare it. If I had my own double coated dogs I would make sure just to comb the back and sides and collect the hairs at the beginning of the shedding season, which should mean that you don't get too many guard hairs. That would be a lot less work!
Thank you for your video!! ♥️🐾 Personally I prefer not to use the sticky tapes, but I see the point here. Wonderful video. I am going to share it in the Chiengora Hand Spinners group on Facebook. Thank you and happy spinning 🧶😊
Thank you! I agree, I wasn’t happy about the sticky roller either but I tried vacuuming and using a lint roller first and it just didn’t do the job. I’m sure you know that it is much better to comb your dog at the beginning of their shedding season and be selective about which fibres you save - only use the brushings from the back and sides and possibly the neck if the hairs are long enough. That way you avoid having to separate out the guard hairs and you collect only the longer, finer hairs. There is a LOT more information if you click on the blog link.
@@KathrynCraftmehappy Thank you!! I have a Samoyed and love working with his fur 😊 Dogs are amazing! They are our friends and they are the fibre source 😁
@@angrytrees7519 Dear Michelle, I am not sure if you are asking me or Kathryn. Personally, I do not have any experience with poodle fibre. I have a book about gog fibre. There is a short paragraph from it here in picture #2 if you scroll: instagram.com/p/CPli0hkr4x3/ No info on staple length though unfortunately..
How do you deal with the problem of it shedding in the finished product, like a snow storm. I have never spun my own but purchased spun up Samoyed fiber as well as Husky. Both shed continually. It's very frustrating.
Dog hair has to be spun with a lot more twist as the fibres are so smooth and short. A loosely spun yarn will shed a lot more. The other thing you can do is to felt the yarn slightly by shocking it. While it’s in hank form, if you alternately plunge it into soapy hot water and then cold water several times the yarn will shrink and felt slightly so that the fibres are less likely to detach themselves.
Gal Ben-Chanoch I am so sorry your fur felted. The main reasons fibres felt is if they’ve been under running water, agitated in any way or gone from hot to cold too quickly. I wouldn’t recommend carding dog fur - unless you have cotton carders. The fibres are too fine for most carders. I have rescued slightly felted fibres before by pulling the individual fibres out and combing them.
If you mean to spin dog yarn? Sadly not. If you look on Ravelry there's a forum called 'Spinnin' Chien'. You might find someone there willing to spin your dog's hair but it is very labour intensive. - www.ravelry.com/groups/spinning-dog-fiber-aka---spinnin-chien?s=tab
Please take a look at the extensive blog post that accompanies this video - www.craftmehappy.com/2019/12/preparing-and-spinning-dog-hair.html A lot of people have commented about how much effort was involved in preparing and spinning the malamute hair from start to finish; both here and on my blog. I feel I should point out that a lot of professional spinners of chiengora would have rejected the dog hair if they were given it in this state - this was almost a worst-case scenario. However, it does demonstrate some of the methods that can be used to remove guard hairs and some of the shorter, more matted fibres. People who keep and spin their own dog's fur learn to be more selective about the brushing they keep and do not need to go to as much effort as I did to remove the guard hairs.
I have 4 Siberian Huskies. I just spun guard hairs and all. Did not wash or comb first. I spun first by just randomly picking up a piece and stretching by hand. (My dog is tri colored.) After spinning and plying I skeined it off and dropped it in a sink of cold water and put a drop of Dawn liquid in and let it soak Did this a couple of times. It came out beautiful with a nice halo after I knit it. I am entering it in the fair this year. I was really pleased with how it turned out.
That’s brilliant! This video accompanies a very extensive blog post about my experience spinning malamute for the first time. Many people that own double coated dogs tell me that they just use the fibres that they comb from the back and sides of the dog without removing the guard hairs. I believe dog owners quickly learn which part of the dog yields the best fibre. Unfortunately I don’t own a dog and the person that gifted me the fibres wasn’t quite so selective. My fibres would have resulted in a very itchy yarn.
@@KathrynCraftmehappy I knit some of my yarn into a scarf using Mr. O"Leary's free scarf pattern which I believe is on Lion Brand site. The scarf is a Christmas present for Max's vet. Also if you are preparing alpaca or angora or similar, please spin and skein before you wash. You will like the results.
I spin dog hair quite frequently. Many breeds for our local kennel club members . I always wash after I have spun and skeined it up. So much easier and no accidental felting. Use cotton hand cards then a drum carder and ready to go.
Your yarn turned out so beautiful! Great video.
I have 4 Siberian huskies too! I’ve been saving their sheds for almost 7 years! I just started spinning a couple weeks ago. I lost one of my huskies a few years ago, and I’m excited to hone my skill a little a make a beautiful memorial piece for her.
Wow, your use of the three dog combs is brilliant. This is so helpful.
I make felted dolls and dreadlocks from my malamutes fur 💗💗💗💗
Wow, that's cool!
Love your idea of dog combs in the vice👍
Thank you 😊 This idea was inspired by a hackle, but much, much cheaper.
What a time consuming but interesting project. Thank you for filming and sharing it.
You're very welcome!
Thanks, I got some great tips here! I'm trying to just clean and card a handful of my border collie's hair for a keepsake that I frantically pulled out of the shop vac. She passed unexpectedly last week and it's the only thing I have left of Precious.
Thank you.
You gotta love your dog so damn much to go through all this work
Ha! I can see where you’re coming from. I don’t actually own a dog, I’m a spinner that fancied learning to spin chiengora. Most spinners of dog hair would have rejected it in this state. If you comb your dog at the earlier stages of shedding and only use brushings from the ‘blanket area’ you should get fibres that don’t need as much preparation.
@@KathrynCraftmehappy that's even more impressive! 👏👏👏
I have Texas Heeler...my boyfriend thinks it's weird af that I save all her hair when i brush her. But I'll make something out of it, one day, when I get really good at spinning, to remember her by when she's gone.
Wow! This is very well made, so much caring. Thanks for sharing this process, it really inspired me 😊
You’re very welcome, I’m so glad you found it interesting!
Love his video! Love the idea of the dog combs! Brilliant! Thank You! Using our Mals’ undercoat has always been a dream for me! We definitely have enough Mals….so this is going to be a lot of work but fun!
Thank you! I envy you owning malamutes - this was for a friend and so I didn't get the opportunity to tell her how to prepare it. If I had my own double coated dogs I would make sure just to comb the back and sides and collect the hairs at the beginning of the shedding season, which should mean that you don't get too many guard hairs. That would be a lot less work!
Wow! I didn't know my beard had guard hairs.
Simply amazing! Bravo!!
God this looks so satisfying
Thank you for your video!! ♥️🐾
Personally I prefer not to use the sticky tapes, but I see the point here.
Wonderful video. I am going to share it in the Chiengora Hand Spinners group on Facebook.
Thank you and happy spinning 🧶😊
Thank you! I agree, I wasn’t happy about the sticky roller either but I tried vacuuming and using a lint roller first and it just didn’t do the job. I’m sure you know that it is much better to comb your dog at the beginning of their shedding season and be selective about which fibres you save - only use the brushings from the back and sides and possibly the neck if the hairs are long enough. That way you avoid having to separate out the guard hairs and you collect only the longer, finer hairs.
There is a LOT more information if you click on the blog link.
@@KathrynCraftmehappy Thank you!!
I have a Samoyed and love working with his fur 😊 Dogs are amazing! They are our friends and they are the fibre source 😁
Oh, a Samoyed! I’ve read that they are one of the best fibre sources. I would love a Samoyed.
Are the guard hairs from a standard poodle particularly difficult? How long is the staple length ideally for poodle hair?
@@angrytrees7519 Dear Michelle, I am not sure if you are asking me or Kathryn.
Personally, I do not have any experience with poodle fibre. I have a book about gog fibre. There is a short paragraph from it here in picture #2 if you scroll: instagram.com/p/CPli0hkr4x3/ No info on staple length though unfortunately..
loovellyyyy!!
Thank you!
Awesome video! Thanks for making it! What brand of spinner are you using?
It’s a Hansen mini spinner.
How do you deal with the problem of it shedding in the finished product, like a snow storm.
I have never spun my own but purchased spun up Samoyed fiber as well as Husky. Both shed continually. It's very frustrating.
Dog hair has to be spun with a lot more twist as the fibres are so smooth and short. A loosely spun yarn will shed a lot more.
The other thing you can do is to felt the yarn slightly by shocking it. While it’s in hank form, if you alternately plunge it into soapy hot water and then cold water several times the yarn will shrink and felt slightly so that the fibres are less likely to detach themselves.
I followed these instructions step by step and my fur got extremely felted :( any way I can fix it so that I can card it?
Gal Ben-Chanoch I am so sorry your fur felted. The main reasons fibres felt is if they’ve been under running water, agitated in any way or gone from hot to cold too quickly. I wouldn’t recommend carding dog fur - unless you have cotton carders. The fibres are too fine for most carders. I have rescued slightly felted fibres before by pulling the individual fibres out and combing them.
Wondering if you are for hire?
If you mean to spin dog yarn? Sadly not. If you look on Ravelry there's a forum called 'Spinnin' Chien'. You might find someone there willing to spin your dog's hair but it is very labour intensive. - www.ravelry.com/groups/spinning-dog-fiber-aka---spinnin-chien?s=tab
Please take a look at the extensive blog post that accompanies this video - www.craftmehappy.com/2019/12/preparing-and-spinning-dog-hair.html A lot of people have commented about how much effort was involved in preparing and spinning the malamute hair from start to finish; both here and on my blog. I feel I should point out that a lot of professional spinners of chiengora would have rejected the dog hair if they were given it in this state - this was almost a worst-case scenario. However, it does demonstrate some of the methods that can be used to remove guard hairs and some of the shorter, more matted fibres. People who keep and spin their own dog's fur learn to be more selective about the brushing they keep and do not need to go to as much effort as I did to remove the guard hairs.